Private practice paying PA tuition for Postgrad work contract

[JPA1]

I am looking for some guidance. I am starting PA school this August and my current employer (who I have worked with for 4 years now) has offered to pay for my tuition/living expenses for PA school if I agree to work for the practice once I graduate. The current group of MDs are great and I would be the first PA to join our group.

 

Does anyone have any experience with this? Reasonable terms, conditions etc.

 

I intend to hire a lawyer to help me if I decide to move forward with the contract, but I was hoping to hear about others experiences with this. Any thoughts are appreciated as this is uncharted territory for me and the whole idea is somewhat overwhelming! Thank you!

[Guest UVAPAC]

I have never heard of someone paying the expenses up front.  Typically I have seen people graduate, sign a contract (generally guaranteeing that you stay for 3+ years) and they will pay off your student loans.  

 

In theory having your student loans paid off sounds nice, but you have to make sure the salary/benefits are in the ballpark as well.  If they are paying them off, but paying you $35/hr it's not so spectacular anymore.  If they are paying you $50-60 an hour and paying off your student loans, it is awesome.  

 

 

As for hiring a lawyer, I have never really understood why people do this.  It's expensive, and unnecessary.  You just have to negotiate for yourself.  

[MT2PA]

You need a LOT more information (and I DO think the lawyer is a good idea) before moving forward with this.

 

Large hospital systems will occasionally offer tuition reimbursement to employees who are simultaneously obtaining degrees - but you usually remain working for them and they have a limit on how much tuition they will actually reimburse.  They lay out upfront that A: there is a max limit on the benefit (varies based on the degree you're pursuing B: you remain working for them and likely are committed to work for them in your new position for a minimum of 2 years (or how ever long) once you finish your degree and C: you are REIMBURSED.  You show proof of tuition paid, etc etc.  They certainly don't hand out free money up front.

 

Obviously a private practice has more flexibility in how they handle things but you absolutely want to be sure you have a contract obligating them to pay (what happens if they change their mind half way through?), understand how long of a commitment you will legally be bound to, do they plan on paying you less once you're a PA bc they upfronted a lot of money?  Or what ARE they thinking for a starting salary/benefits/etc?  What work schedule will you have?  There are a LOT of things a new grad would be shopping around for and negotiating but if they've paid for you upfront you may lose some of that negotiating power and be stuck with whatever they offer.  So you're kind of forced to negotiate it out now.

 

Or, as the previous poster said, maybe consider NOT taking an offer up front and letting them know you'd be interested in talking after you graduate and perhaps negotiating some additional loan reimbursement incentive into a contract if they want you that badly.

 

Just don't get yourself stuck in a situation you'll regret in 2, 3, or however many years because they dangled some pretty appealing bait right now.

[TWR]

lawyer up definitely.  You are talking about a substantial amount of money.  If it isn't in writing, it never happened.

[beattie228]

I was offered a similar package by my previous employer. After careful consideration, I opted to not accept out of concern that I hadn't been exposed to many fields of medicine and would have pigeon-holed myself to one field when perhaps my passion was another. It's a bit painful to pay my loan provider every month, but I ended up picking a field that was much different from my previous work and I don't regret the decision. Loans are easily paid back when you make a good living as a PA.

 

Additionally, I was the first PA to join a practice when I graduated and that was its own nightmare. As a new graduate, it can be a lot to take on to bring a practice up to speed on the fine details of utilizing a PA on top of trying to finagle core PA competencies that you need to master your first few years out of school.

 

With that said, if it is something you opt to do, I agree about having it in writing and having the agreement looked over by an attorney. As others mentioned, you want to have an idea for the type of pay and benefits you're expected upon graduation. It's not worthwhile to have your school paid for if you're paying out of pocket for something like high health insurance costs, malpractice insurance premiums or you take a huge hit on salary. Use AAPA Salary Data to get an idea of what expected pay and benefits are for your area and desired field. Also keep in mind bonus structure and employer retirement contributions. If it's not on paper, it never happened. Don't feel nervous about asking for it all in writing; if a physician were joining a group, they would expect the very same.

[camoman1234]

A PA student in my class that became a good friend of mine had his tuition/room/board/travel etc paid for if he would come back and work for them. He was an AT-C and worked for them for several years prior to starting PA school. I would get a lawyer, UVAPAC's comments sounds like this to me, "I do not need a provider, they are expensive and I can go to the feed store and get me some fish-mox forte 500 mg for my cough." A lawyer is essential in transactions like these to save you stress, time, $$$ and most importantly to stay legal, if it NOT written it did NOT happen and cannot hold up in court.  

[Guest UVAPAC]

I negotiated my own contract at the hospital I work for.  Everything is in writing.  I have copies in my e-mail, copies in writing/letter from the hospital, and HR has copies on file.  It discusses salary, benefits, vacation time, malpractice insurance, etc.

 

I am not sure why I would have needed a lawyer to negotiate these things...

[camoman1234]

You don't need a lawyer to negotiate a basic contract, JPA1 is in a different situation than you were in. 

[beattie228]

Negotiating an employment agreement with a hospital and negotiating a contract as a student for upwards of an estimated $160,000 (tuition + COA) are two different beasts. I didn't have my attorney overlook my employment agreement with the hospital I work for now. I agree you can negotiate that without attorney oversight. I disagree about not getting an attorney involved for the type of agreement the OP is considering. There are just too many variables to take into account for someone who hasn't even gone to PA school yet, let alone hasn't negotiated a professional agreement before.

[JPA1]

Thank you to everyone who has posted! I appreciate your insight greatly!

 

I intend to get a lawyer in order to protect myself against the unexpected. What if I get sick during school and cannot finish? What if the business goes belly up half way through? These are highly unlikely scenarios but 160k could make things messy and I don't want to be caught up in a bad situation.

 

My major concerns are

 

1) Being pigeon-holed like Beattie228 mentioned and find it hard to switch to another specialty from this one (my office is ENT/head and neck surgery). How hard is it to start in one specialty as a recent grad and switch to another?

2) missing something obvious in the contract that I just simply don't know about (example malpractice insurance etc)

3) being the first PA in a private practice

 

My current employer and I have discussed that I would not be in debt to them finacially(meaning my starting salary would not be affected and the rate would be similar to other grads) but I would be in debt to them with time. Is 3 years a realistic expectation?

 

 

The loan reimbursement idea is a good thought and I will definitely look into that. Thank you everyone for sharing your thoughts, I'm excited to be joining the PA community :)